PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — Spring events are already underway around the area to help raise money for charity, and people are coming up with creative ways to do it.

“We’re having a yard sale, and all of the proceeds are going to be donated to the American Cancer Society or the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure,” said Katie Stonelake recently along a sidewalk at 18th and Lombard Streets, near Graduate Hospital. She and Kara Schmidt are raising money for the organizations they run for.

Usually they ask family and friends for donations but, Stonelake says, “It’s hard to ask your friends and family every year for the same things.”

“I agree — it’s hard to ask the same people every year,” adds Schmidt. “It’s always the immediate friends and family that you go to, so it’s always the same group of people.”

So they came up with some other ideas. First, a car wash, and now a flea market.

“We were talking about it — it’s something we thought about, but we live in an apartment building and we thought, ‘Can we really have a yard sale in the city?’ But we decided to go for it.”

So, how did it go?

“We’re very happy. We had people here as we were setting up! It’s been a very good turnout.”

Brandon Isaacs was one of those who donated to the cause.

“I brought some bags of clothes, some vacuum cleaners, books, stuff like that. It’s a really cool event that these women are involved with,” he said.

Both women are nurses. Stonelake notes that “it’s personal in the sense that I go to work every day and see people who have breast cancer.”

Adds Kara: “My cousin was diagnosed with cancer so I wanted to do something to help out, so my race is in honor of her. I can’t really do much to help her fight cancer, but I can raise money to try to help find a cure.”